By Staff Writer
After failing to reach a bargaining agreement on Sunday evening, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) will being rotating strikes across Canada. On Monday, 24-hour strikes began in Windsor, Ont., Halifax, Victoria, and Edmonton.
While mail and parcels won’t be picked up or delivered in those cities, postal services in the rest of the country will be maintained regularly. Regular mail delivery in striking cities will resume the following day.
“With rotating strikes, a new location or locations will be striking daily. We have not yet announced where strikes will be held tomorrow,” a CUPW spokesperson said. The union represents 50,000 Canada Post employees.
According to Tony Rogers, president of CUPW’s Nova Local, the union has been negotiating with Canada post for 10.5 months. “We’ve done everything we could to try and reach an agreement, and they’re not just getting it into their heads that we’re serious about the things we’ve been discussing,” Rogers told the CBC.
“Workers are genuinely angry with the corporation,” said Rogers. “They’ve been insulted by the offers the corporation has put out and they’re insulted by the fact the corporation hasn’t been willing to move whatsoever on the key issues that we feel are important.” For the urban unit, it has been “cash strapped” for 12 years because of “bad deals,” wage freezes and wage increases below the rate of inflation.”
Canada Post has urban and rural units, with issues differing between the two. Rogers told the CBC that the rural unit won a pay-equity settlement, but that Canada Post is negotiating as if the settlement never occurred. The urban unit has been short on funding due to wage freezes or wage increases below the rate of inflation.
According to a statement from Canada Post, “Canada Post remains committed to the bargaining process and has a significant offer on the table that includes increased wages, job security, improved benefits and contains no concessions.”
